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ABSTRACT
Resource Dependence Theory suggests that organizations faced with high resource dependency on actors in their external environment will take action to manage or minimize the dependence. In the early twentieth century, the Negro Leagues were faced with such a resource dilemma. At the same time, the ability to achieve competitive balance is another important predictor of success for sports leagues. Five empirical tests of competitive balance were applied to data from the seasons were the Negro National League, Eastern Colored League, and Negro American League were in operation to ascertain its presence. The results support the presence of competitive balance in Negro Leagues, as measured by both within-seasons and across-seasons. Further, the competitive balance achieved within the three Negro Leagues was comparable to that of two Major Leagues. While there are many books, essays and research studies about the Negro Leagues, there is a paucity of empirical work within this rich body of literature. The present study seeks to add to this subset of research and provide further evidence of the reasons the leagues were well positioned to experience success (albeit short-lived).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The terms African American, Black, and Negro will be used interchangeably throughout the document to describe Americans living in the United States of African descent.
2. The first period of significant migration by African Americans occurred between 1910 and 1940 where approximately 1.5 million African American relocated from the South to cities in Northern States.
3. The initial Negro National League consisted of seven teams–the Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABCs, Kansas City Monarchs and Cuban Stars.
4. Given the time period in which the events described in this paper took place, it virtually empirically impossible to determine how much any particular action contributed to the success of the league.
5. Negro National League (NNL), Eastern Colored League (ECL) and the Negro American League (NAL).
6. Even at the end of the Negro Leagues, MLB did not offer any of the Negro League owners the opportunity to enter the league with their franchise intact. Fort and Maxcy (Citation2001) further note that this ‘lack of an option’ was in stark contrast to offers made to other MLB ‘rivals’.
7. For the purposes of the present study, we will focus on Negro National League (NNL), Eastern Colored League (ECL), and Negro American League (NAL). While representative of the Negro Leagues, it is not exhaustive.
8. Other examples of this type of work include Connolly and Paddy (Citation2011), Jewell, Moti, and Coates (Citation2011) and Lionel., Borrowman, and Halabi (Citation2019) among others.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Kenneth York
Kenneth York is Professor of Management in the School of Business Administration at Oakland University. He teaches HRM and Organizational Behavior and Organizational Research Methods classes. His recent research focuses on competitive balance in sports.
Cynthia Miree
Cynthia Miree is Professor of Management in the School of Business Administration at Oakland University. She teaches Strategic Management. Her research focuses on understanding and measuring firm performance.